Ravens will have to work hard to succeed without Jimmy Smith

Ravens will have to work hard to succeed without Jimmy Smith

For the third time in four years, the Baltimore Ravens lost Jimmy Smith to a season-ending injury. And for the third time in four years, the Ravens will have to fight hard to keep his injury from derailing their season.

Both of the prevous times Smith went down, it was a big blow to a team that had championship aspirations. In 2014, the Ravens were 5-2, and trying to win the AFC North after missing the playoffs in 2013, when Smith was hurt.

Not only did Baltimore lose the division after the Bengals and Steelers carved them up, they almost missed the playoffs entirely. Even after they made the playoffs and got a win in the wild-card round, Tom Brady had an easy time dissecting the Ravens’ reserve cornerbacks in leading a 14-point comeback in the divisional round.

Last season, a similar drop-off happened when Baltimore was trying to make a late-season playoff push and Smith was sidelined. Only this time, the Ravens missed the playoffs after Antonio Brown beat their reserve cornerbacks and scored a last-second touchdown on Christmas Day.

Baltimore finds themselves being in a similar situation this year, as they have a slim margin of error to make the playoffs without the top corner. Fortunately for the Ravens, they still have a one-game lead on the other teams that are vying for a playoff spot and they only have one more game against a team with a winning record.

However, even if they make the playoffs, the loss of Smith might prevent this team from advancing far. The strength of this team was a defense that looked championship-caliber at times. Now that Smith is gone, the level of play from the defense will almost certainly decline — unless the players behind him seriously step up. Baltimore might need Joe Flacco to keep performing like he did in Week 13 and recapture some of his old postseason magic if they want to have any chance of making another deep playoff run.

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